The Predator Within
by NobleMETA
Summary: Pyrrha holds a secret, one that she's kept since birth. Almost no one knows of this truth, but what happens when one of her teammates start to put the pieces together. Will things turn out the way Pyrrha expects them to go, or will it be much better?-Faunus Pyrrha AU, diverges from canon and it's Valkos, so I hope you guys enjoy!
1. Secrets

' _26...27...28...29...30…_ ' Pyrrha counted to herself as she finished her set. Her stretches and warm ups were such a huge part of her training regiment, one that she wasn't likely to skip out on any time soon. She had a reputation to keep up after all.

Pyrrha Nikos, champion fighter, winner of the Mistral Regional tournament for four years in a row, which is the new record for that tournament. She's also done endorsements for cereals, weapons companies, all different kinds of things that she honestly lost track of them all.

Yet for all their prying, no one knew who the real Pyrrha Nikos was.

They didn't know much about her at all, mostly statistics, accolades, what endorsements she's given, those kinds of things. No one bothered to actually take the time to learn about her as a person. They didn't bother to learn about her favorite movie, her favorite meal, her hobbies, what she likes to do for relaxation.

There was also one other fact that Pyrrha refused to discuss with anyone, ever. It was a part of her that she had hoped would never reach the surface of who she was. One small little detail, that while she knew some people wouldn't care about it, others would certainly question her over it.

Pyrrha Nikos was a faunus.

Not just any faunus, she carried the traits of a Panther, black and sleek, a cunning and deadly hunter that could strike at any time. She carried the genetics of a deadly stalker, one of the top predators of the jungles in Mistral.

Only a few people actually knew that Pyrrha was a Faunus, that being her caretakers. They cared for her before and after fights, protecting the truth from anyone. They had grown close to her, but she remained hesitant. Pyrrha was sure to keep that secret hidden, and she was fortunate for the trait that she managed to pick up from her faunus heritage.

Pyrrha was born with a black tail that she wrapped around her waist as if it were a belt. No one seemed to suspect that her "belt" was actually a tail, a part of her that she kept concealed from the rest of the world. Hell, even on her school uniform, she wore her tail as if it were a normal accessory, and no one questioned it.

While Beacon Academy was pretty welcoming towards its students, she knew that there were always those who only sought out trouble. Cardin Winchester was a perfect example of that notion. In fact, his whole team is a perfect example of that.

It was why she still hid her true self, because she was afraid of losing the friends that she had just made, of everyone questioning her, of having the entire world turn against her. She didn't want to lose what she was now starting to gain.

Her teammates, Jaune, Ren, Nora, team RWBY, they were all her friends, she couldn't lose them now. She couldn't bear with being lonely again, not after she finally got a taste of what it's like to have friends.

Having finished with her warm ups, Pyrrha grabbed Milo and Akouo and started to run drills that had been ingrained into her head since she started learning how to fight. Running through the conditioning much like normal, Pyrrha went through hours of training that most people would call excessive. Pyrrha spent so much time training, that it was no question as to how she managed to acquire the records and accolades that she did.

Once she finished with her training, Pyrrha walked out of the training room. Most people would change in the locker rooms and shower there, but given Pyrrha's secret, she just walked back to the dorms first. She actually didn't mind the sweat soaking her body, the sensation gave her a feeling of accomplishment, that happiness at successfully completing the training for the day. One of the most important aspects of her training was remembering to keep a positive outlook on things, because that will help you progress and overcome any obstacles in your way, mental as well as physical.

By the time she returned to the dorm rooms each day, she usually brought Jaune up to the roof to help him train privately, and then she would go and shower once that was done.

Tonight however, it would appear as though that wasn't going to happen. Instead, she was greeted to the sight of Nora alone in the dorm room pacing back and forth in anticipation. "Hey, Nora," Pyrrha said as she walked into the room.

"Finally!" Nora breathed once she saw the redhead enter the room. "You really don't know how long I've been waiting for you."

"Um, is everything alright?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hope you got a swimsuit, because we're going swimming today!" Nora proclaimed.

As soon as Pyrrha heard that, she started to groan internally. It wasn't that she hated the water, she actually didn't mind it at all. The problem was that she didn't want to reveal she was a Faunus as a result, and a swimsuit would be pretty much a dead giveaway to that fact.

Thinking quickly, Pyrrha tried to come up with a pretty decent excuse as to why she wouldn't be joining her teammates at the pool. "Well, I mean, I just got back from training and I have school work to finish," Pyrrha said.

"Oh come on, it's like you never spend time with us," Nora rebuked. "You spend your whole day training and working on school stuff, it's like you don't bother spending time with your friends."

It struck a chord with Pyrrha, mostly because she knew that Nora was right. Often times, she would be training, doing her school work, anything but spending time with her team. It wasn't something she really enjoyed, but in her mind, there wasn't anything else that she could do. She was worried that slacking off would lead to her failing, which she feared would cause everyone to discover what she really is.

Seeing Pyrrha's expression triggered something in Nora though, and soon she took back what it was that she said. "Sorry, Pyrrha," Nora said. "I didn't mean to put it that way."

"No, it's alright, Nora," Pyrrha interjected. "I really don't spend as much time with you guys as I should." Pyrrha thought of a way that she could manage to accomplish both successfully. "Tell you what, how about this Friday, the four of us go out and do something together? I promise to spend this time with you, make up for time I should have spent with my friends."

"Alright," Nora admitted, sulking towards the door. "You better keep that promise, Pyrrha, or I'm holding that belt of yours hostage!"

It was an innocent comment from Nora, one which Pyrrha recognized instantly. The real implications behind it, though were a bit more complex. Pyrrha just smiled and nodded in agreement, waiting for Nora to walk out the door before grabbing her pajamas and a towel.

Pyrrha always enjoyed the shower after a hard day of work, letting her tired body relax under the stream of water, whether hot or cold, though after training it was usually a hot shower so the muscles that she worked could relax quicker than normal. Today, it was really going to feel well deserved.

Letting the water heat up, Pyrrha removed her training gear. It was nice when she was able to just let her tail move around freely, no longer having it feel constricted by the way she positioned it. Once the water was warm enough, Pyrrha stepped into the shower and let out a sigh as she felt her muscles already start to unwind themselves.

Getting to work on clearing the sweat off of her body, Pyrrha scrubbed all over, letting the warm water soak into her skin and revitalize her. Her tail felt exceptionally better thanks to the hot water. Once her body was clean and felt rejuvenated, she started to work on her hair, thoroughly scrubbing it and ensuring it was cleaned to perfection.

After she finished with her shower, Pyrrha dried herself off and changed into her pajamas. She walked out into the dorm room with her tail wrapped around her waist, just in case the others were back. Once she saw that she was alone, Pyrrha let her tail loose and walked over to her desk.

From there, she gathered the books she would need for her school work, before walking over to the dorm's refrigerator and gathering herself a snack. She then put a pot of water for tea on to boil while she started to dig into her school work.

It didn't take long for the water to bubble, their pot was surprisingly quick to heat up. Carefully, she grabbed a cup, and with her tail, held it out while she poured the water into it with her hands. It helped when it came to keeping the water from spilling.

That was one of the things Pyrrha was glad to know, she had full functional control over her tail and could use it to help with tasks, when she was alone at least. It was why she appreciated her privacy, she could just be herself without having to worry about anyone learning her deepest secret.

Once she finished making her tea, she brought the cup over to her desk and started to take a crack at her school work. Occasionally she would use her tail to grasp the cup of tea and take sips from it that way, but for the most part, her tail rested in her lap.

Pyrrha often got distracted when she got into her studies, letting everything else just fade into the background. It was, unfortunately, a habit that she had learned growing up; a habit that she wishes at times that she had never picked up. It has nearly gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion, but fortunately for her, her faunus instincts kicked in at the last second usually and helped her hide the tail.

Tonight though, her instincts kicked in at the worst possible time, and too late to do anything about it.

She was surprised to hear the door starting to open, Nora had originally mentioned that they would be out late because of their swim. But now, her teammates were returning to the dorm, and Pyrrha had her tail out, holding a cup of tea for everyone to see.

As Pyrrha turned around in fright, she saw Nora burst into the dorm, and she had no time to react. Pyrrha's tea spilled onto her lap and her tail still held the cup in its grasp.

"Pyrrha! We're ba…" Nora stopped herself once she saw the position Pyrrha was in, noticing the tail that was swinging next to Pyrrha. Instead of saying anything else, Nora just turned around and shut the door quickly.

Pyrrha feared the worst was about to happen, yet she was paralyzed in fear and unable to act. Fortunately, her hearing kicked in when she heard Nora talking to someone out in the hallway.

"Why are you just standing out here?" Pyrrha heard her partner, Jaune, ask Nora.

"I guess I went in too quickly," Nora said. "Surprised Pyrrha so much that I accidentally caused her to spill her tea all over herself. She's getting changed so YOU TWO ARE NOT ALLOWED IN JUST YET!"

Hearing Nora's excuse, it was touching, yet worrisome at the same time. Taking advantage of the chance that Nora gave her, Pyrrha slipped into a different pair of pajamas, taking care to wrap her tail up once again. With her moment of freedom past, her previous jubilation was diminished slightly.

Once she was finished, Pyrrha walked over to the door and opened it up for everyone. "Thanks for your patience," She said to her teammates, putting a smile on for everyone. "I'm sorry for making a mess in there."

As everyone walked in, Ren reassured her that nothing was wrong, while Nora went on to apologize for intruding. Jaune then went on to explain that someone threw up in the pool and hence, they had to leave. Pyrrha, while she was paying attention, was more focused on Nora, worried about what she would say.

In the end, Nora never uttered a peep, and everyone went about the rest of their day as normal. Not long after, they were off to sleep. Despite the worry within her, Pyrrha found that sleep was pretty easy to come by that evening, though she kept a careful ear out in case anyone else got a bit curious about her.

* * *

 **AN: NEW STORY! Holy crap this is gonna be a good one (if you ask me). And it's a ship that I've never written before either, so that's sure to be a fun experience.**

 **But yeah, there's going to be a lot of depth to the traits that Pyrrha gets from her Faunus half in this story. Plus, there's a couple of things that are going to be coming up that may not be entirely canon either. We'll say that this takes place after the events of Volume 1 as well, yet Pyrrha hasn't developed a crush on Jaune. That whole thing will be treated more like a brother/sister thing, so I'll just clear that up now.**

 **I want to give a major shoutout to my editor/beta MartunaMajor. Dude is a fucking beast when it comes to this kind of stuff (sent him 4 docs to edit the other day, edited them all within a few hours, that's some fucking awesome shit), so thank you Martuna for all the help with this story, and all of my other recent works.**

 **Anyway, please give this a follow/fave/review if you enjoyed it. If you don't want to that's fine, but it'd be extremely appreciated if you did. I'll catch you next chapter!**


	2. Running Wild and Free

*beep beep beep beep beep bee-*

Pyrrha swiftly moved her hand onto the button to turn off her alarm clock before looking around to see if it woke anyone else in the room up. After seeing no one stir, she stood up and walked over to the closet. Pyrrha grabbed a set of track clothes that she usually wore for her morning workout.

Despite how early in the morning it was, this was a usual thing for Pyrrha. She'd wake up around 4 a.m., go out for a jog in the woods, and then return to start her day with the others. For her, being up at night was something she had always done, ever since she was younger. Pyrrha ended up deducing after a period of time that she might have inherited some of her nocturnal nature from the part of her that was a Faunus.

After changing in the bathroom, Pyrrha walked out of the dorm room, weapons in hand and her goal in mind. She walked through the halls, always being careful to avoid running into anyone that could get her into trouble. While she knew that the punishments for being out during certain hours were almost non-existent, Pyrrha didn't want to take any chances.

Eventually, she reached the edge of the Emerald Forest and started her stretches. Pyrrha always enjoyed this training the most, the freedom to just run around through the forest without a care in the world. She always enjoyed rushing through the trees because the path was never the same, and it was always a challenge no matter which direction you took. Some moments, it could be pretty clear, others you could be dodging trees and fallen branches left and right. Pyrrha just loved to run, it was one of her favorite things to do more than anything else.

Once Pyrrha was finished stretching, she started to make her way through the forest. She began with a light jog, not pushing herself right away. She wanted to build up to it and savor the moment when she would turn on the jets and let loose with her feet. Despite not doing any weapons training during that time, Pyrrha still brought them with her in case something should come about from this.

As Pyrrha started to pick up her pace, she started to use her terrain more and more. She would jump and leap off of the trunks of trees and use that to propel her to the next tree before repeating, she'd swing off of branches with her hands like a trapeze artist, even jump between large gaps in the ground where rivers or boulders lay.

Today, as Pyrrha was running, her mind kept returning to that one moment she had with Nora the night before. She never got the chance to hear what it was that Nora had to say, what she saw, and why she gave her an out to keep her secret.

' _Why would Nora do something like that?_ ' She thought to herself. ' _I thought she would've just turned tail and run to the nearest news station and make millions over this information. Instead, she covers for me and acts like nothing happened. What gives?_ '

Pyrrha didn't have that much trust in people, any time she got close to someone, it came close to backfiring in her face. Most people didn't care if she was their friend from before, if they had an opportunity to make money at her expense, then they would do just that. It was why Pyrrha never let anyone get close, they could cause more harm than good for her in life if they found out the truth.

*snap*

Pyrrha heard the tell tale signs of a broken tree branch a little bit behind her. She didn't know what it was, but she wasn't going to let it catch up to her and find out unless she was ready for it. So Pyrrha unwrapped her tail from around her waist and took off as fast as she could. Her tail acted as a counter-balance for her while she was travelling at such high speeds, yet another benefit she inherited from her Faunus attributes.

Once she ran, Pyrrha listened behind her to see if she could figure out what it was that was following her. What she heard gave her both reason to relax and be concerned. She was glad that it wasn't a Grimm that was chasing her. What really concerned her though, was that she was being chased by another person. And from what she could tell, while they weren't the fastest runner out there, they could move pretty quickly if they really wanted to.

And they really wanted to.

Pyrrha let the chase continue on for a little bit longer, moving deftly through the forest without hesitation. Eventually, after she put a little bit of distance between the two of them, Pyrrha formulated an idea for how to deal with this situation.

Immediately, Pyrrha started to climb the trees above her as she waited for the person to run underneath. As she climbed, she realized that the best way to handle this was to get on top of her chaser. Once she climbed up as high as she felt was necessary, Pyrrha wrapped her tail around her waist once more and waited.

She could see clearly, despite the dark morning sky and expansive treeline hindering any light in the area. Most people shouldn't have been able to keep up with her, let alone find her now. If Pyrrha wanted to make a quick getaway instead of sticking around, she had plenty of opportunity to do so.

By then, she started to notice who it was that had followed her all the way into the woods, her own teammate.

"Nora?" Pyrrha whispered to herself as she saw the ginger appear right underneath her tree branch and stop.

Pyrrha could tell that she was out of breath and really tired, but that wasn't what she was concerned about at that moment. She needed to know why Nora was out there in the first place, and why she was chasing after her for this long.

"Gah, where on earth did you run off to?" Nora said to herself, though Pyrrha could pick up the worry within her tone.

Waiting no longer, Pyrrha leapt down from the branch and landed right on top of Nora, knocking her off of her feet and onto her stomach.

"Oof!" Nora cried out once she contacted the ground.

Before she knew it, Nora felt her body flip over and she now lay on her back. What really surprised her was that Pyrrha was on top of her, a sword held to her throat.

Nora coughed a bit before speaking up. "Well, this is awkward."

"Explain yourself, Nora," Pyrrha demanded, the sword still pressed against the ginger's neck.

"Could you lower your weapon first?" Nora asked. "I think that would-"

"Nora!" Pyrrha cut in. She really wasn't in the mood for games from her own teammate.

"Alright, alright, alright," Nora conceded. "I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday, see if what I actually saw last night was real or not!"

"And what do you plan to do with that information once you've gotten it, huh?" Pyrrha questioned, getting more heated as she went on. "You going to take it and sell it to the highest bidder, make yourself a millionaire while I get turned into a criminal just because of what I am?"

"Wait, what? You really think I'd do that to you?" Nora asked.

"Right now, you aren't doing much to help your case," Pyrrha explained. "And I'm sorry if I have problems with trusting people."

"If I was going to sell you out, don't you think I would've done that already?" Nora suggested. Instead of responding right away, Pyrrha gave what Nora said another thought, knowing that she was indeed right about one thing. If Nora knew about it from before, she could have gone off and sold the information immediately. "We've been teammates for a little while now, yet you don't know me as well as you think. I don't sell out people who I'm friends with."

Pyrrha didn't really have much of a choice after that, so she pulled Milo away from Nora and stood up. "I guess, I can't know truly what you'll do with this information until you actually act on it, can I?" Pyrrha offered a hand to Nora and helped the shorter girl up to her feet.

"Well, I just told you that I won't be selling you out," Nora mentioned. "It's not like it was that long ago, you should remember what I said."

"Nora," Pyrrha groaned. "It's not that, but if you were in my position, then you would understand why I hide this from people."

"Faunus to Human relations, the problems with the White Fang, general opinion of most Faunus in the world," Nora commented. "Things like that?"

"You could say that," Pyrrha lamented. "I generally don't like people knowing that I'm actually a Faunus, since it could be really bad for my health and reputation down the road."

"Well, would it help to know that I don't care that you're a Faunus, and that I know Ren wouldn't think any differently of you because of it?" Nora asked.

Pyrrha took a moment to think things over, questioning whether or not her teammates at least deserved to know about what she really was. "Maybe one of these days I'll tell Ren and Jaune about this, but for now, could we please just keep this between the two of us? I don't want people to know that I'm a Faunus."

Nora just sighed and placed her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "I guess that if it's what you want, then that'll work out best," Nora conceded. "I just wish you would be willing to tell us more as time goes on."

"Fine," Pyrrha admitted. "Just know that I'm not comfortable with more people knowing about this just yet, ok?"

"Understood, el capitano!" Nora replied in her usual manner.

"It's not that I don't trust you, or Ren, or Jaune, it's just that I have had some bad experiences dealing with people who have found out that I'm a Faunus," Pyrrha elaborated. "I don't want to have to go through that kind of thing anymore, if you can catch my drift."

"Sounds like you've got a lot to talk about, if you ask me," Nora mentioned. "So, Pyrrha, why don't you talk to me about what's wrong?"

Pyrrha just looked at Nora with a glare that told her to stop asking about it. "Right, so that's the description from the crowd tonight, I see how it is." Nora commented. By that point in time, the sun was starting to rise and Nora and Pyrrha could see each other much more clearly. "Oh, really weird request that you don't have to fulfill if you don't feel comfortable just yet."

"Where are you going with this?" Pyrrha asked.

"Can I see you with your tail unwrapped?"

At that, Pyrrha just froze, staring at Nora and contemplating what was going through this girl's head that she would ask something like that.

Based off of Pyrrha's reaction, Nora assumed her answer would get a resounding no. "Ok, nevermind, forget that I asked about that." She said, hoping that it would help Pyrrha relax while they were still out there. "Actually, can you tell me why you get up early in the morning to go out and train?"

Hearing how Nora had decided to let it go and move on to something else helped Pyrrha feel a little better. The question Nora followed it up with though didn't help the matter. "Er, well, I'd rather not talk about that right now. I'm getting pretty tired and drained from having to explain this much about myself to you right now. I'm not used to doing this...willingly."

"Fair enough, then," Nora conceded. "I'll get out of your hair and let you finish then if that's what you want."

"Nah," Pyrrha shrugged. "The sun's starting to come up, so we should consider heading back to Beacon. I got plenty of work from you chasing me around this morning, so I guess that's something you can take from this."

"Awesome!" Nora proclaimed. "I am the best chaser person ever!"

Pyrrha laughed at her friend as they walked back through the woods and up to the academy. While she was happy that Nora didn't appear to be interested in spilling her secret, she still planned on keeping an eye on her whenever she could. For now, though, she'd just enjoy the company as the two of them began the walk back to Beacon.

* * *

 **AN: Oh...my...god...you guys have no idea how fucking thrilled I am over the response to this story. I'm not gonna lie, within the past week, ONE WEEK, I got 65 followers (my most for a debut chapter, ever), 31 favorites, and 11 reviews. You guys must really like this story that much if you're so interested in this.  
**

 **I promise you this, I do want the chapters to get just a bit longer. I do plan on going back and forth between major storyline moments and one shot ideas within the story that interconnect to a certain extent. So, hopefully that means there is plenty of content to go around.**

 **With that being said, thank you guys so much for the support on this, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	3. Tick Tick Boom

Pyrrha was really tired of sitting around in school for the day. As much as she enjoyed being in class and learning, she could only deal with it for so long, and after the week she had, Pyrrha was ready to just sit in her bed and sleep, or go outside and climb a tree. She always enjoyed doing that.

Instead, she was stuck wearing a tacky school uniform that made it really uncomfortable for her to deal with for long periods of time. By now, she was really irritated by the uniform and just wanted to be done.

' _At least Oobleck is pretty quick with his lectures,_ ' Pyrrha thought to herself. ' _And even better that he hands us partial notes that we have to fill in with the different subjects that he talks about. Guess he realizes just how quick he actually is._ '

Pyrrha was still paying attention to the lecture, they were in the middle of covering the Faunus War. She always wondered just how people portrayed the war depending on where they were. Most of the time, she heard a pretty similar retelling and lecture from most places, though there were a few that tried to put a sick twist on the story and turn it into Anti-Faunus propaganda. That's what Pyrrha hated to see from people with the power of teaching in their hands.

She was glad that Oobleck was telling the war as it actually was. Giving the truth on how both sides were at fault over the war, and presenting facts to back up what he was saying. Unfortunately, as she learned a long time ago, there was always someone who didn't want to listen to the truth.

"Why do we have to learn about these animals again?" Cardin Winchester, Beacon Academy's newest bully, had decided to speak up against what Dr. Oobleck was saying. "From the way they behave now, they deserved to get the crap kicked out of them."

"Oh my god, Cardin, will you please do us all a favor and shut up?" Pyrrha turned and saw her teammate Nora standing up and glaring at Cardin with anger in her eyes.

"Why do you care about them?" Cardin asked. "Do you see what they do to people nowadays? The White Fang is nothing but a bunch of psychopathic trash that needs to be removed from Remnant, along with the rest of the Faunus, too."

At that, Nora walked across the room and got right up in his face. "You really are just one big idiot, aren't you?" She growled once she was right in front of him. "Do you not realize that humanity has treated the Faunus terribly in the first place? Why don't you look at yourself before you decide to call the kettle black?"

"Miss Valkyrie, Mr. Winchester, please sit down. I will not have you two arguing right now, you can save it for the arena floor," Dr. Oobleck said, though he couldn't stop the round of applause that was being given in support of Nora for what she did. Pyrrha herself was heavily supporting Nora, but she couldn't help but feel a little jealous of her actions.

It was easy for Nora to say those kind of things, she didn't have a groundbreaking secret that she held onto for all of her life. Pyrrha, she had to contend with being a well known public figure, most of the things she did was put under heavy scrutiny. If she were to stand up and do what Nora did, it could potentially spark problems with one community or the other. What was worse, she could be discovered as a Faunus, and that would bring all kinds of problems down onto not only her, but her family as well. She couldn't take that chance.

Nora had returned to her seat by then and Pyrrha stopped applauding, giving Nora a half smile and a pat on the shoulder. The two then returned to the lecture, though it didn't last much longer as the bell rang, signifying the end of classes.

With freedom on the horizon, the two teammates walked back to their dorm room. "You remember what today is, right?" Nora asked.

"Friday?" Pyrrha answered, though she was curious as to what Nora was getting at.

"Yeah!" Nora proclaimed. "You remember, you said you would go out into town with the rest of us today!"

' _Wait, that's today?_ ' Pyrrha thought to herself, though she couldn't suppress the look of shock on her face. "Oh man, I forgot about that," She said to Nora as they walked through the halls. "How could I be so forgetful?"

"Eh," Nora said. "It's fine, I forget things all the time. I hope you didn't make any plans, though, because I would hate for you to bail on us this time."

"No no, I didn't make any plans," Pyrrha mentioned. "It's just I forgot that this was going on in general. I can't believe I did that."

"Great! This is going to be so much fun!" Nora declared as they walked up to their dorm room and opened it up. "Go get changed, we're meeting Jaune and Renny over by the airship!" Nora then proceeded to grab a couple items from the closet and run into the bathroom.

Pyrrha figured that it would be nice to get changed, though she would have preferred to do so in the bathroom. Considering how the only other person here was Nora, she figured it would be a good opportunity to change out in the main room for once. The first thing she did was stretch out her tail and give it a chance to move around while she gathered all of her necessities. Once she was ready, Pyrrha changed into her usual attire and wrapped her tail back up. As soon as she did, Pyrrha noticed Nora come out of the bathroom.

"Sorry I took so long," Nora said. "Had to go pee, lots of it came out. So, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get going then," Pyrrha said as she walked with Nora out of the dorm room and out to a night of fun.

* * *

By the time the four made it into town, it was pretty active in the city. Pyrrha was definitely having fun with her friends, not expecting it to go as well as it had been thus far. Pyrrha was glad that she hadn't gotten bombarded with photo requests or people asking for autographs, at least not yet.

She knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and as they were going towards the restaurant that the four were planning on going to, the press started to gather around her. She was cut off from her friends as the press were surrounding her to a certain degree. She kept getting questions from everyone possible, and she was feeling a bit claustrophobic as a result.

Nora tried to get through to her, but short of taking out her hammer and just knocking everyone back by force, there wasn't much she could do. It had been going on for about 20 minutes now, and Nora was starting to see that Pyrrha was looking like she wanted to just leave. Jaune and Ren were waiting patiently, but they couldn't see an end in sight.

"Alright," Jaune said. "How much longer do you think this is gonna be?"

"We should wait here as long as it takes for Pyrrha to finish up with this," Ren commented. "No matter how much it interferes with our plans."

"I was hoping to get one day with just our team, though, and it's been fun so far before all of this happened," Jaune commented. "Look, at least one of us should go and get a table at the restaurant before it gets completely swamped with people."

"Well then, it looks like you just volunteered," Nora said. "I'll stay here and wait for Pyrrha to finish up."

"You sure about that, Nora?" Ren asked. "You might be here for quite a while."

"I don't care about the wait," Nora argued. It was rare for Nora to get firm with Ren, so seeing it was a surprise to the man. "Pyrrha's my friend and dammit, I don't want to leave her alone with these nutjobs."

"Alright," Jaune said, taking the hint that Nora was leaving. "We'll see you two at the restaurant. Let us know when you're on your way over." With that, Nora watched as Ren and Jaune walked down the street to the restaurant in question. She then turned back to see Pyrrha still answering any questions that were hurled her way.

Pyrrha was certainly not enjoying the constant questions sent her way. Most of them were about why she wasn't named the her team's leader, questions on the skill level of her teammates, whether or not her teammates were even worth being at Beacon or not. Each of them she gave much praise to her teammates, her friends.

As the questions continued, Pyrrha noticed something out of the ordinary. She saw a young Faunus woman being harassed by a group of men with malicious looks in their eyes. At first, she assumed it was nothing, but then she saw how they started to bring harm to her, and that startled her internally. Pyrrha looked around to see if there was anyone who could help. When she saw Nora, her teammate was staring down with her scroll, entranced in some kind of game.

She took a few seconds to measure the different sides of what she should do. Should she just let it happen, avoiding the attention she would bring upon herself if she took action, or should she stand up and do what's right, not worrying about what the media thought of her as a result?

Her final thoughts rested on what Nora had done earlier in that day, how she stood up without a care in the world what people thought of her. That's what spurred her into action, and she pushed the reporters aside so that she could walk up and handle it in a diplomatic way.

"What's going on over here?" Pyrrha asked, hoping that it would stop the attack.

Instead, as she approached, the attackers noticed the press and immediately turned tail and ran. Pyrrha jogged forward, keeping an eye on them to see if they would do anything. Once she was sure they were gone, Pyrrha turned to the woman in question and offered to help the woman to her feet.

"Keep away from me!" Pyrrha heard the woman shout, slapping her hand away. "You humans are all the same, so just leave me alone!" The woman got up on her own and left, leaving as quickly as she could so that she didn't have to deal with that situation.

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel terrible over what had happened, she wasn't expecting to get that kind of reaction from the woman she was trying to help. She just stood there, staring out into the horizon without any specific thing in mind. The sounds of the reporters returning to her helped stir her out of the trance she had set herself into. She immediately turned towards where Nora was sitting and pushed past the reporters.

"I'm sorry, I've spent too much time out here already," Pyrrha said, trying not to sound as though she was blowing them off. Though she actually was, she didn't want to appear as though she was a bad person. "I have to get back to my teammates and rejoin them."

She didn't leave any room for argument and saw that Nora was standing up, waiting for her to reach the shorter girl. As the reporters tried to follow Pyrrha, she decided to give them another reason to walk away. She sent a wave of electromagnetic energy out towards the cameras and microphones, effectively corrupting all the footage that was already acquired, and destroying the equipment so it could no longer be used.

Without the hassle of being followed by the press, Pyrrha let her head hang low as she walked with Nora over to the restaurant. Nora wanted to say something, but she didn't know if her friend was in the right mindset to talk about things. So, she wordless walked with the taller woman, trying to think of a way to help cheer her friend up.

* * *

 **AN: Well, things are starting to pick up. We're gonna be getting more into the reasons why Pyrrha acts the way she does, but that comes with time, and with something like this, I don't want to just rush things.**

 **Don't worry, things will happen with time, Nora and the rest of Team JNPR need to show Pyrrha that they aren't like the rest of society, and that she can trust them with her secret. Given what I have in mind, Pyrrha is going to be very hesitant to trust anyone.**

 **Anyway, thanks for tuning in, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are appreciated, but not required, and have a wonderful evening.**


	4. A Trip to the Woods

By the time Nora and Pyrrha reached the restaurant, the taller girl was more than ready to return to her dorm room. She was drained, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Their walk was in complete silence, though Pyrrha could just sense that Nora wanted to talk with her. Nora did see what happened to her at the end, but Pyrrha could only assume that Nora understood why she didn't feel like talking.

Nora held open the door for Pyrrha, who gave her as much of a smile as she could muster. The restaurant was starting to get packed, as there were people waiting up at the front for a table to become available. She looked at the tables, hoping to find Jaune and Ren as soon as she could. Once she did, the two women walked over to the table they were situated at and took their seats.

"Hey, glad you guys could make it," Jaune said once they sat down. "I'm glad that we got here when we did. I don't think we would've gotten a table otherwise. So did everything go well with your interview?" Pyrrha looked up to Jaune and elected to shrug instead of giving him a verbal response.

"Everything alright?" Ren asked. "I hope you didn't mind us making our way over here while you had your interview going on. If you did then we apologize for our actions."

"It's not that," Pyrrha finally said, speaking for the first time since she walked away from that interview. "It's just been a long few days and everything is getting to me."

"Well, hopefully we can help cheer you up a bit, how does that sound?" Nora chimed in.

Pyrrha wanted to believe what Nora was saying, but for some reason, part of her was doubtful. ' _It's not like they could possibly understand what I'm going through. I couldn't explain it to them, even if I tried to,_ ' she thought to herself. ' _I know I would only be thinking about this and their efforts would be wasted on me. Maybe it'd be better if I was just alone for the weekend._ '

"Honestly, I think I might just need a bit of time to think things over on my own," Pyrrha said. "Not that I don't think you want to help, it's just, it's something I need to do on my own." Pyrrha stood up from her seat. "I'm sorry to ruin everyone's fun." Leaving it at that, Pyrrha walked out of the restaurant before anything else could be said.

She made her way back up to the docks for the airship that would bring her back to Beacon. The entire trip she had this nagging suspicion that her teammates were going to keep worrying about her the entire time. Pyrrha put it in the back of her mind and thought of what she could do to help clear her own head.

' _Maybe I just need to spend the weekend away from it all, go out to the forest and leave all my troubles behind,_ ' Pyrrha thought to herself as she took a seat on the airship before it took off.

Once the departure began, Pyrrha started to notice something peculiar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a mess of orange hair, similar to that of her teammate, Nora. Giving it more attention, she could hear the telltale mumbling that came from her teammate. Pyrrha closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. ' _I should've known that someone would come follow me, at least it's Nora this time,_ ' Pyrrha said within her mind.

She decided to wait until the two of them were alone before she let Nora know that she'd been found out. Maybe then she could get this off of her chest. While they were walking, at the restaurant, she couldn't say anything because of how many people were around. A conversation like the one she needed, it couldn't be just out in the street.

The ride on the airship however took longer than Pyrrha would've liked it to. Once they had landed, Pyrrha made her way back to the dorms, hoping to catch a moment where she could have a conversation with Nora along the way. Given that it was a weekend, she figured that most of the other students would be out on the town or doing something outside of classes.

As she was walking down one of the halls, Pyrrha kept a close ear out to see if Nora was still following her. She wasn't surprised to find that Nora was indeed still following her after all of this time. Taking note of what was going on around her, she saw that the only two people there were herself and Nora. She let out a sigh as she stopped walking and waited for a few seconds.

"I know you're there, Nora," Pyrrha called out to her teammate. "There's no point in hiding anymore."

"How did you know I was behind you?" Nora pouted, she had hoped that Pyrrha wouldn't notice her throughout the journey.

Pyrrha turned around as Nora walked up to the taller girl. "You don't remember what it is about me that only you know?"

"Wait you mean...er…" Nora paused as she looked around to see if there was anyone around to hear them. Not taking any chances, she leaned up closer to Pyrrha, trying to reach her ear so she could whisper into it. "You mean the part about you being a Faunus?"

Pyrrha was glad that Nora was doing her best to try and keep it a secret as much as she could. "Yes, that's what I'm referring to, Nora," Pyrrha replied. "That's how I knew you were following me." Pyrrha then continued to make her way back to their dorm with Nora keeping stride as well. "I'm sorry that I ruined this night for you guys, but with what happened earlier today, I just wanted to be left alone. I would've only ruined the night for you guys, and I didn't want to do that. Guess it ended up happening anyway."

"What happened back at that interview anyway?" Nora asked. "I only saw the part where that one lady decided to yell at you and thought you were human."

That's what's been giving Pyrrha trouble, the fact that she didn't want to be seen as Faunus. Combining that with her fame, there was a lot that she could and couldn't do. She couldn't truly take a stand without having so many repercussions. At least, that's what she thought within her own mind.

"There isn't much that I can really do for the Faunus," Pyrrha whispered, hoping that Nora caught what she had said. "I mean, I'm a publically known figure for pete's sake, I should be able to help them as much as possible. Unfortunately, people aren't known for being compassionate, and anything that I may try would either be cast aside as a publicity stunt or, worst case scenario, people would turn on me and what I do have will be taken away from me out of spite."

"So that's what this is about?" Nora asked. "You're upset because you're stuck with not being able to help your people?"

"Pretty much," Pyrrha replied.

Nora really didn't know what she could do to help her friend out. "Man, that really sucks for you," She eventually said to Pyrrha. "I wish that there was something I could say that could help you out a bit."

"That's why I honestly want to just be left alone for this weekend," Pyrrha said as the pair reached the door to their dorm room.

"What do you mean by that?" Nora asked as they entered their dorm room.

Instead of giving Nora a response right away, Pyrrha walked over to her bed and pulled a bag out from underneath. Inside of it she had a cache of supplies that were pre-prepared for moments when she would elect to go out into the woods on her own. In pulling the bag out, she had decided to take a trip on her own for the weekend.

"I think I'm just gonna go get some time away from the school for the weekend," Pyrrha replied as she placed the bag onto her bed and opened it up. She pulled a few of the items out so that she could inspect them and make sure they were still in good condition.

As Pyrrha was doing this, Nora walked up behind her and turned the taller woman towards her. "Do you want the rest of us to come out with you?"

Pyrrha really didn't want to tell the shorter girl no. She didn't want to hurt her friends any more than she already had today. "It's not that I don't want you to go out with me, but I just need some time alone," Pyrrha finally answered after a few seconds. Once she did, she packed a couple changes of clothes in the bag, along with any other small provisions that she kept to the side as well.

"Wow, I didn't realize you were into me that way," Nora teased, taking Pyrrha's wording and trying to make light of the situation.

It took a second for Pyrrha to catch onto what Nora meant, but once she did, a small blush appeared on her cheeks. She immediately turned around in an attempt to hide her blush from her teammate. "N-now hold on just a second," Pyrrha stammered, before Nora started to chuckle.

"I was just messing with you," Nora laughed before she got herself back under control once more. "In all seriousness though, you don't have to go out there alone. We want to make sure you're fine after all."

"I know," Pyrrha sighed as she got back to packing. "But like I said, I just need to spend some time alone so that I can clear my head. I hope you understand that."

Nora looked down at the floor and held herself. "I guess I understand," Nora dejectedly said. "But promise me you'll keep in touch with us while you're out doing your thing."

By that point in time, Pyrrha had finished gathering everything she needed and was ready to head out. "I promise," She said to Nora as she threw her bags over her shoulder and took her weapons in hand. "Let the others know what I'm doing?"

"I'll be sure to do so," Nora said as she watched Pyrrha leave the dorms. ' _Though I may decide to do more than just that_ ,' She thought to herself once Pyrrha had left the room.

* * *

Pyrrha's journey into the Emerald Forest was a relatively easy and short one. Any encounters she had with the Grimm were small and trivial for her. She made her way deeper into the forest, hoping to find some kind of place where she could safely rest for the weekend. Pyrrha also managed to find some relief in the fact that she could walk around with her tail out and not worry about what was around her.

As she was walking into the forest, she happened to notice a waterfall that was off in the distance with what looked like a clearing near it's base. That was her first destination, though she kept track of where she was in case it turned out to be a bust. As she was walking, she took note of other locations that would have served her purpose, but had their flaws.

Fortunately for her, she didn't need to worry about it. Once she reached the base of the waterfall, she saw a perfect place to set up for the weekend. The waterfall fell into a basin that was surrounded by cliffs. An oasis within the Emerald Forest with plenty of trees as well as a small pond to keep it's beauty evident. There was enough space that Pyrrha could set up a makeshift campsite, and so Pyrrha got to work setting up a fire for the night. Along with that, unless they came from above, there was only one point of entry into the encampment, through a small cave that the river from the waterfall flowed through.

Once she had a fire going, she got to work on setting up a hammock to sleep in. Pyrrha never liked the idea of sleeping in a tent, and she would often sleep up in the trees whenever she was out in the woods. They provided her with a natural shelter, and given her faunus nature, were more comfortable to her than sleeping in a tent on the ground.

She found some vines and started to make her way up towards the top of the trees, stopping midway up. Once she was there, she started to wrap the vines to a few of the trees that were within close proximity to each other and weaved together a makeshift hammock out of them. It was wide enough for her to sleep on it comfortably, so she was more than happy with how it turned out.

All the while, Pyrrha was starting to miss the companionship of her teammates. She had marveled at the sight before her once she first arrived, but had no one to share it with. Part of her desired for her teammates to be there, but another part of her was grateful for the peace and quiet that came with being alone.

Pyrrha started to climb her way back down to the floor when she heard a noise coming from a little bit outside of her encampment. She immediately summoned her weapon into her hands, wrapped her tail around her waist once more, and started to make her way to where the noise came from. Pyrrha quietly stalked through the trees, climbing up them to get a better view of her surroundings.

She checked the ammo that she had and noticed she accidentally grabbed one of her mags filled with paint rounds. While the rest were her normal ammunition, she was cursing herself for being so careless and grabbing something that wouldn't be of any use to her in a real fight. While doing this however, Pyrrha heard the distinct sound of people speaking to each other. What piqued her curiosity even further was who it was that was talking in the first place.

"Nora, are you sure that she's over in this direction?" Pyrrha heard Jaune ask her teammate.

Pyrrha was confused as to why her teammates, her friends, would come out to the forest. Nora had probably convinced them to take up on the endeavour in the hopes of cheering the tall redhead up, despite said redhead's desire to remain alone during the weekend. The part of her that wanted to share this time with her teammates started to well up again, and she started to ponder if she should bring them with her.

"I'm almost positive of it," Pyrrha heard Nora reply to Jaune. "I saw the smoke coming from this direction, so if she isn't there, then I don't know where she'd be."

"You still haven't fully explained why we're out here in the first place," Ren stated next. "Pyrrha told you herself that she wanted to spend some time alone, so we should respect her wishes."

"I know, but I just can't stand by and let her be all mopey and sad by herself," Nora said in response. "We're her friends, I just want to show that we're there for her whenever she wants or needs it."

"Hopefully she understands your reasoning," Ren finished before continuing to follow behind Nora.

Pyrrha heard what Nora had said and she felt awestruck by how devoted her friends were to her well being. She decided then and there that she wanted to have them around after all, just so that she can enjoy some time with her friends. But first, Pyrrha decided to play a little bit of a prank on her teammates while she had the chance.

Remembering the paint ammunition she had, Pyrrha was starting to feel grateful that she grabbed it in her haste. She quietly pulled back on the mechanisms of Milo and unloaded the mag that was currently loaded in. Once it was out, she placed the paintball rounds in, and loaded the first round into the firing chamber. Once that was done, she got into a position above her teammates and waited for them to walk underneath her.

"Man, how far in do you think we are right now?" Jaune asked. Unfortunately, his teammates didn't get the chance to reply to him. Pyrrha dropped down on Jaune, knocking him down onto his back and landing on top of him. Hearing their leader's groans in surprise and pain, Nora and Ren turned around, only to each be shot by Pyrrha with the paintball rounds she had previously loaded into Milo.

Realizing what had happened, Nora decided to just run with it and give Pyrrha a good laugh. "Goodbye, cruel world, I'll never forget your deliciousness," Nora said before dramatically falling to her knees as if she was in pain, and eventually lying down and faking death.

"Hahaha, get up, Nora," Pyrrha chuckled as she stood up and off of Jaune. She helped her leader to his feet before putting her weapon away. "I do appreciate the laugh, but I think we can save it for when we're back at my camp."

"Wait, how did you know we were searching for you in the first place?" Ren asked.

"How do you think I knew both where to find you, and get the drop on you guys?" Pyrrha asked. "You weren't exactly being quiet, and I heard you guys coming from quite a ways away."

"Jeez, that's some really good hearing you have there," Jaune groaned. "Though next time, can you please not land directly on top of me. I don't know how many times my back will be able to take that."

"You're not the first person I've done that to, Jaune," Pyrrha said, though she gave a sidelong glance in Nora's direction. "Now come on, we should make our way back to my camp so you guys can give me the full reasoning behind why you're out here. I heard part of it, but I figured there's more to explain."

"Lead the way, el capitano!" Nora cried out as the secret faunus led her teammates through the woods.

* * *

 **AN: I know it's been a while since I updated this, but things have been hectic for me the past few months. Hopefully I'll be able to get more out for this story soon, as well as my other stories. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!**


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